Pakistan exports 440 containers honey to Gulf States

Pakistan has exported 440 containers honey to Gulf States during the financial year 2011-12 and the year 2012-13 the volume was higher than the previous year.

Honey Bee Keepers and Exporters Association Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president Raza Khan Afridi said this talking to the local media. He said that Pakistani honey had big demand in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait and Bahrain. The price of one kilogram honey in international market in Pakistani rupee is Rs 1,000 and each container contains 20,000 kilogram of honey.

He called for provision of facilities to honey exporters to increase the export of the commodity and stressed need for the establishment of ‘Honey Board’ having representation of all stakeholders including the association and forest department.

For increase in the production of honey, Raza Khan Afridi said the bee keepers should be given facilities as due to poverty his bees use to die. He said bee keepers were poor and they had suffered a loss of Rs 1,60,000 colonies annually under the head of transportation, feeding and working.

He especially complained of the police attitude with bee keepers at the time of the transportation of colonies and every truck have to pay an amount ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per truck. He, in particular, complained of the improper treatment of Peshawar and Kohat police.

The variety of bees known as Apis-Mellaffera was imported from Italy in 1982 for Afghan refugees.

He said that demand of honey in international market particularly in Gulf is many fold higher than the present supply. For increase in the production, he called for the plantation of berry plants in open places to provide feeding for the bees. In this connection, he especially stressed the active role of forest and agriculture departments and district administration should also cooperate with them.

He also called for the establishment of a honey specific department to work for the promotion of investment in the sector under the supervision of public sector. He further demanded making arrangement for the processing of the honey. The president of Bee Keepers Association said that bee keeping was an informal emerging sector providing employment opportunity to thousands of people. He especially appreciated the efforts of Smeda for the development of the sector.

After carpet manufacturing, bee keeping is the second potential export-oriented sector of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, whose growth is stagnant due to the lack of facilities by both federal and provincial governments.